Washington: China purchasing land in the US is becoming a major issue as politicians at the state and federal level ramp up their fight against perceived threats from Beijing, The Hill reported.
Chinese ownership of US farmland has increased fivefold over the past decade, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, from 69,000 acres in 2011 to almost 384,000 acres in 2021. That amounts to about 1 per cent of the 3 per cent of all U.S. farmland owned by foreign nationals. In the past couple of months, lawmakers in more than two dozen states have passed or considered legislation restricting Chinese purchases of US farmland.
Former President Trump has promised that if he retakes the White House, he will ban Chinese investors from buying US farmland and other critical infrastructure, and force sales of their current holdings, The Hill reported.
“China has been spending trillions of dollars to take over the crown jewels of the United States’s economy,” Trump said in a campaign video in January.
“To protect our country, we need to enact aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States, including energy, technology, telecommunications, farmland, natural resources, medical supplies and other strategic national assets.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed multiple bills this month that prohibit Chinese citizens from purchasing land in the state. Last month, the North Carolina House passed a bill that would ban the governments of “foreign adversaries” from purchasing agricultural land as well as any land within 25 miles of a military installation.
Texas Senate passed a bill last month that would ban citizens of China from buying property, The Hill reported.
Lawmakers on the federal level are also pushing legislation to block China from buying farmland. A bipartisan group of senators have introduced a bill, known as the PASS Act, that would prohibit nationals of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying US agricultural land or investing in American agricultural businesses.
Other legislation focuses specifically on the Chinese government. The House easily passed an amendment to the Republican’s energy bill in late March prohibiting the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing US farmland or land used for renewable energy, The Hill reported.
The broader bill was dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Chinese ownership of US farmland has increased fivefold over the past decade, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, from 69,000 acres in 2011 to almost 384,000 acres in 2021. That amounts to about 1 per cent of the 3 per cent of all US farmland owned by foreign nationals.
The rate of this increase has not been even. A large portion of the growth came from a single purchase in 2013 when the Chinese company WH Group bought Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the US, The Hill reported.